Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline

The 450 kilometre long Mombasa to Nairobi pipeline was built in 1978. 14 inches in diameter, the pipeline was built by the state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company Limited (KPC) and took two years to build.[1] Initially the pipeline had four pump stations, enabling a rate of flow of 440 cubic metres per hour.[2] With the rise in oil demand and the expansion of the Kenyan economy, pipeline traffic quadrupled from 879 776 cubic metres in 1978 to 3 853 439 cubic metres in 2007.[3] With the pipeline struggling to meet this capacity, the KPC responded by installing additional pump stations, boosting the rate of flow to 880 cubic metres per hour in 2008.[4] Nairobi consumes more than 50% of the oil products pumped from Mombasa.[5] However, the pipeline is in poor condition, and in 2012 the KPC announced it would embark on a $300 million project to replace it.[6]